21st Century Follies · Alexander Squier
Opening Reception Friday, Jan 9, 6–9 PM
On view Saturdays, 1–5 PM
Jan 9–Feb 14, 2026
Follies were an 18th- and 19th-century European architectural phenomenon. Aristocrats, landowners and even townships would commission whimsical buildings or “ruins” in the architectural styles of ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt, for example. They served no purpose except to be beautiful and to evoke a sense of the epic grandeur of the past. Today’s “eclectic language” is an amalgamation of diluted references to almost any style from any time. Those are then set against a stark infrastructural backdrop of metal signage, painted concrete, curbs, blacktop, and gravel, occasionally interrupted by the occasional clump of hardy grass and weeds, in a way that can be both beautiful and maddening.
Squier’s own “folly” references and samples from contemporary urban infrastructure, specifically the curbed islands, bollards, medians, and parking lot buffers that exist all around. Rather than replicating these elements “accurately” or according to function, Squier expands upon them, re-interpreting their elements expressively. Set against different contemporary, real landscapes that seem empty, the scene vacillates between desolate and peaceful. Though these spaces seem far removed, they are all in the middle of Houston.
The installation is amplified by a new series of works depicting designs for other follies that sample, combine, and twist elements of the built landscape and default architectural vernacular. By recontextualizing otherwise ubiquitous and unromantic pieces of the urban infrastructural vernacular, with a little bit of humor and a genuine design endeavor, I hope to invite closer critical examination of our environment, and to play with possibility while searching for beauty within the language that we have.
Alexander Squier is an interdisciplinary artist, working across media including printmaking, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, video and sound. Based in his hometown of Houston, Texas, he works out of his studio at BOX 13 ArtSpace in the city’s East End District, and is an artist member of the Burning Bones printshop in the Houston Heights. He has taught printmaking, drawing, and photography, at the University of Houston, Art League Houston, the Houston Printing Museum, and headed up the printmaking department at the Glassell School of Art (Museum of Fine Arts Houston).
Some of Squier’s notable projects from recent years include Remnants / Visions, a 2015-16 installation transforming a derelict ranch home into an archaeological museum in the Sharpstown District, and The Houston Brick Archive, a mobile museum, map, and archive of nearly four hundred bricks collected over several years from all around the city. The latter was funded by the Houston Arts Alliance’s Individual Artist Grant, which was awarded in 2018, and was most recently displayed at the historic Julia Ideson Building in Houston for several months in 2024. Squier earned his Bachelor's Degree in Studio Art from the University of Rochester in 2010, and his Master’s of Fine Arts Degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (Tufts University) in 2013. In addition to his studio practice and teaching, he is also a curator and organizer, currently serving as the Exhibitions Director at Sawyer Yards.
Website: www.alexandersquier.com
Instagram: @alexander.squier
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexandersquier?app=desktop